EL PASO, TEXAS (NewsNation) — As a federal U.S. Border Patrol agent assigned to an elite tactical unit made his way up a rain-soaked wooded ridge near where Grant Hardin, known as “The Devil in the Ozarks,” had escaped an Arkansas state prison almost two weeks before, his mind started to race.
NewsNation exclusively spoke with two agents in the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, who captured Grant Hardin in June. NewsNation is not naming the agents to protect their identities.
Less than 24 hours into the manhunt for the police chief-turned-escaped prisoner, the agent figured if Hardin wasn’t in this patch of rural wilderness, he likely wasn’t far. Part of a 20-member BORTAC squad that was dispatched from their home base at Fort Bliss in El Paso, the agent approached the crest of the hill and spotted a muddied, shirtless man matching Hardin’s description.
NY high school grad detained by ICE released
The agent called out and identified himself as law enforcement, setting off a mental game of cat and mouse. Would Hardin run? Would he fight?…